R.B.I. Baseball 17: Remarkably Less to Offer Than Before

[RaychelSnr]

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Baseball season is once again upon us, and as home runs, diving catches and contrived handshakes to celebrate a win begin to fill our television screens, you may be feeling the itch to play some digital hardball as well.

Xbox One owners know the situation well by now: If you want to play an MLB-licensed game with current rosters and don’t own a PlayStation 4, the only place to turn is the R.B.I Baseball franchise.

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[snc237]

Because you don't have a score now I will do it for you. 2/10

[murph17]

Can't wait for SMB2!!

[rspencer86]

Re: R.B.I. Baseball 17: Remarkably Less to Offer Than Before

Because you don't have a score now I will do it for you. 2/10

I think that it is the only MLB-licensed game on the XBox One is a huge disadvantage for R.B.I., because now many people compare it to The Show. It was never meant to be a direct competitor—it's fast paced, arcade baseball that happens to have real MLB players and teams.

With that said, it doesn't succeed at playing a really compelling game of arcade baseball, either. The gameplay isn't terrible... there's some fun to be had, especially if you have a friend with you on the couch to play against. But no online play and a barebones season mode, combined with basic visuals and passable gameplay—there's not a huge market for a game with these credentials.

[misterkrabz]

I gave RBI Baseball a chance two years in a row (15 and 16) because I would have loved for it to relive it's past glory (being a gamer from the 80's). Decided not to touch it this year and it sounds like that is a good decision. Really, if these guys teamed up with Super Mega Baseball they would have something..but what they're doing doing right now with the license and the title is a non-starter. To many bugs, non-fun game play, and no real reason to comeback for more....Super Mega on the other hand....can't wait for that....will be a day one adopter of that.

[ODogg]

uhhh.......nope, lol

[sheredia]

how are they still able to release this game? it hasn't improved at all....just give the MLB license to super mega baseball 2 already.

[boomhauertjs]

Re: R.B.I. Baseball 17: Remarkably Less to Offer Than Before

As a mobile game, it's good, especially since you don't have to deal with microtransactions. As a console game, it's really lacking.

[bxphenom7]

My condolences to Xbox users. You'd really think EA would make an exclusive MVP game on Xbox.

[jawgee]

I'd rather boot up RBI Baseball on my NES than play this version.

[dubcity]

Re: R.B.I. Baseball 17: Remarkably Less to Offer Than Before

Well, at least the grass is a deeper green than The Show. That's about the only advantage they have. RBI 16 was good for only about 2-3 weeks of entertainment for me.

[jpollack34]

I'm going to be frank and honest... The game is atrocious. Absolutely horrendous.

The first sign for me that gave it away was that they took it off PC Steam. I always look at that first. It tells me whether a company can take the heat. They got absolutely ripped apart on the Steam boards and couldn't take the heat. Any excuse about piracy and sales is nothing but hogwash. Taking it off Steam doesn't increase sales elsewhere. They just couldn't take the criticism as the PC crowd is the most finicky and demanding of all, as Steam gets tons of games released daily so the competition is enormous. They are a finicky bunch and very vocal.

If you can't take the heat, there is only one thing to do... Get outta the kitchen.

It's neither a fun arcade experience nor a sim experience. And no online to boot. Absolutely atrocious game.

[CMH]

Re: R.B.I. Baseball 17: Remarkably Less to Offer Than Before

Really liked 16. Did a good job of being what it was (another fast paced, arcade game with some sim aspects), not what others thought it should be (a boring failed attempt of The Show).

But 17 looks like more of the same. The requests gamers made were never commented on or added, it appears. What good is multiple seasons if you can't age players or at least have free agency?

Really disappointing. Great effort last year. Not sure what happened this season.

[Blzer]

Re: R.B.I. Baseball 17: Remarkably Less to Offer Than Before

how are they still able to release this game? it hasn't improved at all....just give the MLB license to super mega baseball 2 already.

According to Ramone Russell, it is up for grabs for anybody to use. Gotta pay some royalties to use it, but still.

[strawberryshortcake]

Re: R.B.I. Baseball 17: Remarkably Less to Offer Than Before

Well, at least the grass is a deeper green than The Show. That's about the only advantage they have. RBI 16 was good for only about 2-3 weeks of entertainment for me.

Been playing the iOS 17' version for the past week (never tried 16'), and truthfully, quite a few of the animations (this is not the same as graphics) are better than MLB the Show. Yes, I am serious because I was actually shockingly amazed and impressed.

This is especially true when it comes to the outfielder's animations. RBI's outfielder's charging the ball, their gather steps, finding their footing when fielding the ball, their footwork when charging the ball, gathering their footsteps near the wall, gathering their footsteps tracking the ball, outfielder's throwing motion, running motion, proper small crow hops allowing the fielder to throw the ball a farther distance, taking small steps fielding front bloopers, transition animations from fielding to throwing the ball back towards the infield is incredibly beautiful. How the outfielder's upper body twist, leans, angles with respect to the lower body, and throwing motion was pretty impressive.

Another thing that was a very pleasant surprise was the way fielding errors were handled. They felt and looked much more organic than how they're handled in MLB the Show. When the fielder botches the ball, one is still quickly able to maneuver the player to field the ball without a sort of force field so to speak. It's not just about the speed at which the user is able to control the situation with the controller, but the way the "animation" plays out looks much more real. The recovery footwork, and how the body twist and moves, and how the player throws the ball is simply beautiful.

Pitching animation also has a better speed to their motions/movement. Some of the pitchers actually tuck their glove side arm toward their bodies in RBI. The speed of the arm whip works very well.

These are the top three things that stick out because I am still seeing the same legacy concern with MLB the Show in their fielder's throwing animation, pitching animation, and finding the ball when the fielder botches the ball.